2008 Woodie Awards
Easy in Oxford
Emily Grosvenor - Special to The Daily Iowan
Issue date: 1/24/08 Section: 80 Hours
In the quiet hours between shifts at Augusta, Scott Attias stokes the fire on his wood-fed grill and cuts dough for French bread - kneading it and forming it into oblong forms before pushing the buns into an oven.
"I don't know how the bread feels, but it makes the people feel wonderful," the former massage therapist said.
Over the past four months, Attias, 30, has teamed up with the friends he met while living and working in the kitchens of New Orleans to bring the tastes and smells of the Big Easy to eastern Iowa. And they are making everything - the Bordelaise for the hand-cut steaks, the gumbo, and even the sweet pickles - from scratch.
"We don't even own a can opener," said co-owner and head chef Ben Halperin, who cut his teeth on Cajun cuisine working under star chef Susan Spicer at her flagship New Orleans restaurant, Bayona. "The freezer we have is only for ice cream."
That attitude has created a menu awash with such Creole and Cajun classics as po' boys, grits, and grillades (a pork and grits dish served traditionally after Mardis Gras), and savory chicken and andouille gumbo - but with enough homey Iowa staples to satisfy the locals.
The restaurant, called Augusta after the street where all five owners reside, constitutes a giant leap for a group of young people who lost many of their materials possessions in the aftermath of Katrina.
Three years ago, Attias and wife Sarah Clunis owned a home in the French Quarter of New Orleans.
"It was sort like paradise, in a way," Attias said. Fruit grew in the yard. His wife, an art professor, had recently given birth to their first child, Judah.
Then Katrina hit. And like many other families, Attias and Clunis were pushed out, first by the hurricane itself and then finally, by the maddening bureaucracy that made daily life impossible for young entrepreneurs.
"It was too hard to get things done there, whether it was fixing a home or just getting the gas guy to come out to your place," Attias said.
The family was homeless for eight months, relying on the help of friends at the UI, where Clunis went to graduate school. Then, everything started to come together. She got a job as curator of African art at the UI Museum of Art, Attias found work as a baker, and former art Professor Peter Feldstein sold the couple a sprawling historic home in Oxford, a town 15 minutes away from Iowa City.
Now, they want to play a part in bringing life back to Oxford's main street.
"We would like Augusta to become a destination - but also be a place locals can come to for good food," Attias said.
Like many fine dining restaurants in the area, the owners of Augusta have made cooking with local products a priority. The lamb comes from Bud's in Riverside. Oxford baker Ashely's Pie A La Mode delivers the home-baked pies. The owners plan to introduce more local produce as it becomes available.
Connecting with local producers proved to be simple for Attias, who dropped scones and laid out cinnamon rolls as a morning baker at the Coralville New Pioneer Co-op until helping launch the restaurant.
And despite being the only gig in town - Augusta replaced the Oxford Bar and Grill, which closed last year - the town's low rents and low overhead have translated to affordable dining.
Well past 9 p.m. on opening day, approximately 30 people are chatting in Augusta's warm, plum-colored dining room. The crowd is a mix of Oxfordians, friends from the Co-op, and customers lured by the flier the restaurant handed out around town.
Halperin plates grits and grillades in the back while wife Jeri Halperin, an Iowa native he met in New Orleans, serves in the front of the house. Ben Halperin has had more direct contact with the sources of food than most chefs, having spent much of his 20s bounding around the globe, trolling for shrimp in Australia, picking bananas and tobacco, and working in kitchens in China and Japan.
Like Attias and Clunis, the Halperins fled Louisiana after Katrina. They lived temporarily in Chicago before moving to Iowa.
They visited Oxford on their honeymoon last summer and knew just by looking at the space that it was a setting where they could settle permanently.
"Young chefs want to go to New York City to make their careers," Ben Halperin said. "I just wanted a place to be happy, not to be famous."
"Katrina really drove us to make things our own," Jeri Halperin said.
E-mail The Daily Iowan at:
daily-iowan@uiowa.edu
Augusta
Where: 101 S. Augusta Ave., Oxford, Iowa
Hours: Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday 11 a.m.-9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; Sunday brunch, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.; Sunday dinner, 4-8 p.m.; Closed Tuesday.
Contact for more info: 319 828 2252 or augustarestaurant@gmail.com
"I don't know how the bread feels, but it makes the people feel wonderful," the former massage therapist said.
Over the past four months, Attias, 30, has teamed up with the friends he met while living and working in the kitchens of New Orleans to bring the tastes and smells of the Big Easy to eastern Iowa. And they are making everything - the Bordelaise for the hand-cut steaks, the gumbo, and even the sweet pickles - from scratch.
"We don't even own a can opener," said co-owner and head chef Ben Halperin, who cut his teeth on Cajun cuisine working under star chef Susan Spicer at her flagship New Orleans restaurant, Bayona. "The freezer we have is only for ice cream."
That attitude has created a menu awash with such Creole and Cajun classics as po' boys, grits, and grillades (a pork and grits dish served traditionally after Mardis Gras), and savory chicken and andouille gumbo - but with enough homey Iowa staples to satisfy the locals.
The restaurant, called Augusta after the street where all five owners reside, constitutes a giant leap for a group of young people who lost many of their materials possessions in the aftermath of Katrina.
Three years ago, Attias and wife Sarah Clunis owned a home in the French Quarter of New Orleans.
"It was sort like paradise, in a way," Attias said. Fruit grew in the yard. His wife, an art professor, had recently given birth to their first child, Judah.
Then Katrina hit. And like many other families, Attias and Clunis were pushed out, first by the hurricane itself and then finally, by the maddening bureaucracy that made daily life impossible for young entrepreneurs.
"It was too hard to get things done there, whether it was fixing a home or just getting the gas guy to come out to your place," Attias said.
The family was homeless for eight months, relying on the help of friends at the UI, where Clunis went to graduate school. Then, everything started to come together. She got a job as curator of African art at the UI Museum of Art, Attias found work as a baker, and former art Professor Peter Feldstein sold the couple a sprawling historic home in Oxford, a town 15 minutes away from Iowa City.
Now, they want to play a part in bringing life back to Oxford's main street.
"We would like Augusta to become a destination - but also be a place locals can come to for good food," Attias said.
Like many fine dining restaurants in the area, the owners of Augusta have made cooking with local products a priority. The lamb comes from Bud's in Riverside. Oxford baker Ashely's Pie A La Mode delivers the home-baked pies. The owners plan to introduce more local produce as it becomes available.
Connecting with local producers proved to be simple for Attias, who dropped scones and laid out cinnamon rolls as a morning baker at the Coralville New Pioneer Co-op until helping launch the restaurant.
And despite being the only gig in town - Augusta replaced the Oxford Bar and Grill, which closed last year - the town's low rents and low overhead have translated to affordable dining.
Well past 9 p.m. on opening day, approximately 30 people are chatting in Augusta's warm, plum-colored dining room. The crowd is a mix of Oxfordians, friends from the Co-op, and customers lured by the flier the restaurant handed out around town.
Halperin plates grits and grillades in the back while wife Jeri Halperin, an Iowa native he met in New Orleans, serves in the front of the house. Ben Halperin has had more direct contact with the sources of food than most chefs, having spent much of his 20s bounding around the globe, trolling for shrimp in Australia, picking bananas and tobacco, and working in kitchens in China and Japan.
Like Attias and Clunis, the Halperins fled Louisiana after Katrina. They lived temporarily in Chicago before moving to Iowa.
They visited Oxford on their honeymoon last summer and knew just by looking at the space that it was a setting where they could settle permanently.
"Young chefs want to go to New York City to make their careers," Ben Halperin said. "I just wanted a place to be happy, not to be famous."
"Katrina really drove us to make things our own," Jeri Halperin said.
E-mail The Daily Iowan at:
daily-iowan@uiowa.edu
Augusta
Where: 101 S. Augusta Ave., Oxford, Iowa
Hours: Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday 11 a.m.-9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; Sunday brunch, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.; Sunday dinner, 4-8 p.m.; Closed Tuesday.
Contact for more info: 319 828 2252 or augustarestaurant@gmail.com
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Jan
posted 1/30/08 @ 10:56 AM CST
Thats great, I wonder why it seems to take people from outside the state to try and bring our little towns back to life. I know I am going to be a costumer. (Continued…)
Eric
posted 2/03/08 @ 10:31 AM CST
I dined at Augusta last night; two thumbs up. It makes for a little drive from the Coralville/Iowa City area. The food was delicious, affordable and nicely presented. (Continued…)
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